Tuning-pin setter



(N ModeL) 11,3. PINNEY.

I TUNING PIN SETTER. v No; 360,871. Patented Apr. 12, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY E. FINNEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TUNING-PIN SETTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 360,871, dated April12, 1887.

Application filed January 28, 1884. Serial No. 118,895. (No model.)

It allwho'm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY E. FINNEY, a

citizen of the United States, residingin Ohi- I shall be held firmly andprevented from being turned by the tension of the strings which arewound around the pins. These pins in a piano are arranged so closelytogether that in selecting any one pin to be set or driven down it isusually found necessary to transmit the force of a blow to the pinthrough the medium of sometool resting upon the top end of the pin, andin turn struck at its top end with a hammer or analogous implementas,for example, it is common with professional pianotuners to hold with onehand an ordinary nailsetter consisting simply of a short metal stem,and, resting this on the top end of the pin, strike the setter with someinstrument held by the other hand'of the operator; but in thus drivingdown or setting the pins they are, during the moment of impact, liableto turn under the tension of the strings, thereby entailing extra laboron thepart of the operator as, for example, in old pianos when a pin isthus struck it is liable to turn back, so as to entirely slacken up thestring, and in turning the pin forward again it is apt to be drawnsomewhat out, so that when released the pin will immediately turn back,or else the piano will soon get out of tune.

The object of my invention is to overcome such objectionable featuresincident to the tuning of pianos, and to provide an improved tool ordevice by means of which the pin can be prevented from turning whilebeing set or driven down; also, to provide a strong, light,

novel, and simple device constituting an etficient tuning-pin setter bywhich any one pin in the lot can be readily selected and prevented fromturning while being driven down.

A further object is to provide a tool capable of subserving the abovepurposes, and also of being readily and easily brought into engagementwith any one pin. These objects I attain by means of the devicehereinafter de scribed and claimed, and illustrated in the annexeddrawings, in which- Figure 1 illustrates a longitudinal section takencentrally through a device constructed in accordance with my invention;Fig. 2, a plan View of that end of said device which is adapted toreceive any one of the pins provided for the strings of a piano; Fig. 3,a detail side elevation, partly in section, showing a set-screw as anequivalent device to the pin for securing the handle to the stem.

The stem A, which is adapted at one end to fit on a tuning-pin, is madeof a cylindrical shape from said end up to a point where it iscontracted, so as to form a neck, A, with a shoulder, E, at thejunctionof said neck and the cylindrical main body portion, which latter ispreferably made somewhat tapering from its end to the shoulder, althoughit could be made of a straight cylindrical conformation, if desired, solong as its configuration admits of its being introduced in a set ofclosely-set pins, so as to engage any one of the pins to be set. Thisstem is provided with a handle, B, fitted at one end on the neck of thestem and up to and against the shoulder at the junction of the neck andmain body of the stem, said handle being arranged at such angle to thestem that when the handle is grasped by an operator the tool can bemaintained in a vertical position.

The handle, which can be made extensible, if so desired, has a metalshank portion, B, which is enlarged or expanded at one end, so as toform a substantially spherical enlargement or bearing, 13 through whicha mortise is formed for the neck, upon which the said bearing is fitted.This bearing, which fits on the stem, is also fitted close up againstthe shoulder E at the junction of the neck and main body portion of thestem, in which way the inner end of the handle,while being fitted on thestem, is also seated against a shoulder on the latter, which admits of amore efficient and rigid connection between the two members. Theenlarged end or bearing B is provided with an opening for a pin, D,whichenters said opening, and also extends into a socket in the neck; or, asan equivalent thereof, a set-screw can be employed.

The shoulder E is made at such distance back of the end of'the neck, andthe bearing B is made of such diameter, that when the bearing is fittedon the neck and fitted against the shoulder sufficient of the endportion of the neck shall extend beyond the shoulder to form a strikingend for thestem, so that by holding the device with the socketed end ofthe stem engaging a pin and the opposite end thereof uppermost,thelatter end can be struck with a hammer or other instrument, so as todrive the pin down more firmly in its seat.

The stem A is provided in its base or lower end with a socket, O, inwhich the pin to be turned or driven down, or both, is received. Thissocket is formed centrally in the base portion of the stem, and is maderectangular,

so that when thest-eni is fitted upon a pin and turned the sides of thesocket acting against the pin shall cause the latter to turn with thestem, and thereby vary the tension of the string proportionately to theextent to which such operation is conducted.

Itwill be obvious that by providing the stem with a comparatively longhandle extending laterally from the stem sufficient leverage can beobtained to enable a person tuning the piano to hold the pins thereofagainstturning with great case while they are being set or driven down,and that by inclining to some extent the handle relatively to the axisof the stem the instrument can be held by the operator in anatural andeasy position while employing it to hold the pins with which the stringsare connected.

It, now, it becomes necessary to drive down apin in "its socket in orderto seat it more firmly therein, the only operation necessary will be tofit thestem on apin, and while holding the handle of the stem strike thestem on its top end with a hammer or any convenient means, so that theimpact received thereon shall be transmitted through the medium of thestem to the pin, upon the top end of which latter that portion of thestem which is at the inner end of the socket rests. It will be seen thatthe pin thus held against turning receives the force of a blowtransmitted through a solid homogeneous body, whereby the impact on thepin will be positive, and also there will be no liability of breaking orinjuring the handle, which is connected to and made rigid with the stemat a point below the top end of the latter, which is struck asaforesaid, the walls of said concavity constitutinga guide for guidingthe stem on a pin when this end of the stem is seated on a pin.

Prior to my invention a tuning-hammer has been constructed with a stemsocketed at one end, and connected with a handle having a forked endwith an eye in each prong, through which the stem passes, and a quadrantfitted and vertically adjustable on the stem between the perforated endsof the prongs, the stem being in such case extended above. Such device,however, is not well adapted for driving down the pin, since theconcussions impair the con- 6 nection between the several parts, andalso the labor and difficulty of manufacture has so added to the expensethat such devices are not in favor with piano-tuners. In some instancesa combined tool consisting of a body having a hammer at one end, awrench and socket at the other, and a handle at the middle has beenmade; but such devices are not designed for setting piano-tuning pins,and have been cast in one piece with a configuration which adapts 7 themfor driving nails or subserving the purposes of an ordinary wrench, butwhich will not admit of their fitting a piano-tuning pin.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s-

A device for setting tuning-pins of pianos. consisting of a stem, A,provided at one end with a socket adapted to en age a tuning-pin, and atits opposite end contracted to form a 8 neck with a shoulder, E, at thejunction of the neck and main body of the stem, in combination with ahandle, B, having one end expanded to form a single bearing, B, which isfitted upon the said neck up to and against the shoulder and detachabl ysecured upon the neck by a set-screw, the outer end portion of said neckbeing extended beyond the hearing, so as to form astriking portionsusceptible of being struck so as to set any one of a set of 9tuning-pins, no matter how closely they are set together, substantiallyas described.

HENRY E. FINNEY.

Witnesses:

W. W. ELLIOTT, JNo. G. ELLIOTT.

